Pakistani security forces secured a mosque and school complex in Islamabad today, snuffing out the last pockets of resistance a day after an assault that killed a rebel cleric and more than 50 militants.
Many questions were unanswered including the final death toll and whether any women or children had been killed at the radical Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque.
Soldiers were securing a headquarters and residential complex where hardline cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi lived, said military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad.
"Even as late as 10.30 in the morning (6.30 am) there was resistance and an exchange of fire," Maj Gen Arshad told reporters.
He said he had no report of women or children among the dead in yesterday's assault, carried out by 164 commandos. Ghazi died in a hail of bullets in a last stand last night. His body was being taken for burial in his home village in Punjab province, an Interior Ministry official said.
Three militants were killed in an exchange of fire overnight and several militants and members of the security forces were wounded in the morning clash.
Occasional explosions rang out from the fortified mosque-school complex as troops destroyed booby-traps and mines. Nine members of the security forces were killed and 29 wounded in "Operation Silence", the codename for the final assault.
Yesterday's estimate that more than 50 militants had been killed will increase, Maj Gen Arshad said, adding the final toll could only be determined after the complex had been combed.